Friday, March 23, 2012

One for the 'Language Matters' files

Here is a geographer talking about once and future plans for how to redevelop an area:

“The debate about the footprint is history now,” Campanella says. “You can’t reintroduce that question six years later, given that the city, the state and the nation as a whole has already committed recovery dollars to rebuilding houses and fixing utilities. To go back and reopen the wound — it’s too late. The baby’s already born. Maybe next time we could revisit this. I hope there isn’t a next time. But of course there will be.” (emphasis added)

He's from Tulane, talking about the Lower Ninth Ward in Louisiana - the state with the highest cesarean rate, 39.7% in 2010. I was reading this article through quickly (fascinating, by the way) and thought, haha, funny mixed metaphor. Wounds, babies. Except on second thought, I think the metaphor here is a actually a c-section, functioning as the unmarked concept.